Discussion

Am I the only person on the planet that doesn't "get" Trader Joe's?

I've gone into that store probably half a dozen times and honestly, I can't understand where all the accolades come from. Nothing about that store looks either appetizing or inspiring. What am I missing?

You don't really need to "get" it. It either appeals to you or it doesn't. They're much more limited than a full-line grocery store so unless you're looking for specific types of items it might not match your needs or expectations on any particular visit.

Their food is very high quality, very reasonably priced, and they stock items that are unique and hard to find elsewhere. I'm not sure why that's hard to "get" for anyone, but I guess if you don't like any of those things...?

Quite frankly, if you don't find anything in Trader Joe's to be appetizing, I sort of feel sorry for you.

I tend to agree. I stop in about every other month for a few items (primarily oatmeal cookies, coconut oil & cheeses plus peaches in the spring (typically outstanding to the point I no longer can buy peaches from a regular grocer where I must wait until mid summer to otherwise get decent orchard peaches), but otherwise, I'm not so sure why anyone gets worked up about frozen food and plastic sealed meats.

Pretty much this. There's a list of about a dozen things we get. Pastas are perfectly fine and very cheap. There's one pasta sauce we like. We get our coffee there. There's the occasional frozen product like the battered halibut that we quite like for fish tacos. The prices on dairy are good enough that if we need stuff when we're in the store we'll pick it up but not so good that we go out of our way for it.

We don't do our regular grocery shopping there but there are a handful of things that are somewhat unique to them that we like.

I do! But after years of shopping at Trader Joe's, I've edited my list to include mostly things that are available. The prices on dairy are so good (and I've got two small kids at home, so we go through a lot of dairy) and there are a few items we really rely on that they have exclusively. I do have to hit Safeway or a regular supermarket every other week or so to get things like ziploc bags and to fill my husband's soda addiction.

>> i don't know anybody that does their "regular grocery shopping" there

Westsidegal, nice to meet you!

I'd say TJ covers about 70% of my grocery needs.

I do the bulk of my general shopping at TJs. Milk, eggs, butter, yogurt, cheese, crackers, beer & wine, sometimes the prepackaged deli meat or cookies, or frozen desserts.

TJ's produce can be wildly hit or miss, so unless it's something bulletproof like grapes, packaged salads, broccoli, cauliflower or green beans, I prefer to buy produce from the Hollywood farmers market, or (rarely) at Whole Foods. The fresh fish can be good, but the frozen fish fillets are generally wretched. (I tend to buy thin fillets like cod, so perhaps the frozen heavy fish steaks fare better). As for the rest of my shopping, I buy raw meat and chicken from the butchers and poultry shops LA Farmers Market, which is on my walk home from work. My trips to the ordinary supermarkets (or the grocery section of Target-- better prices) is really just to pick up some DeCecco pasta, boxed chicken stock, or King Arthur Flour. And of course for Chinese groceries & produce, the 99 Ranch and other Chinese supermarkets of the San Gabriel Valley.

Overall, prices at TJ's are far below equivalent (or even the same) products at other retailers, and their unique items really are what send it over the top. For the cultural cache, uniqueness and quality, they could be demanding FUB™/Whole Foods prices, and yet they don't. I love the place.